I haven’t seen Johnny Knoxville’s Bad Grandpa yet, but I plan to see it soon and I thought it was interesting that Knoxville beat Gravity this weekend. I’ve always had this theory that when films (or books, or even TV shows) are released how they are received depends a great deal on what the competition is. Would American Idol have been such a huge success if there had been something better on TV to compete with it? At the time, there wasn’t anything else on TV to watch. In this case, movies viewers chose to see Johnny Knoxville’s Bad Grandpa instead of George Clooney in Gravity because they had a choice. This article goes deeper, and lists what other films did.

“Bad Grandpa” stars Johnny Knoxville as an accident-prone grandfather in the hidden-camera comedy.

And though people are still going to see Gravity in theaters, I can’t help but wonder which film would have won out had they both been released at the same time. In full disclosure, I’m a huge fan of Johnny Knoxville and what he’s achieved. I’m not a huge fan of George Clooney for many reasons, one of which has to do with his political rantings all the time. I don’t care what actors who are making millions and millions of dollars think of politics on any level, or in any political direction. And so far I don’t think Johnny Knoxville has ever been too political about anything. His goal is to entertain, to make people laugh, and to create physical comedy often at his own physical expense.

Says Knoxville of his meat and two veg, “It’s just like a dog’s chew-toy down there. I broke my penis about three years ago trying to backflip a motorcycle. So that did’t help its appearance, although it’s pretty cute. I still have to use a catheter twice a day and it’s been three years now.” TWO TIMES A DAY?!? We just left our bodies and floated up onto the ceiling, that’s how painful that sounds.For those who are so inclined, you can see Knoxville’s penis here at the OMG blog. (It looks okay to me, but that photo could have been shot before he broke his penis 🙂

In any event, for more information about Johnny Knoxville, you can read about him on wiki. I also think one of the most interesting things he’s done is the way he added homoerotic scenes to his TV shows and movies. But most of all I admire him because he’s been able to entertain people during some very difficult times in the US.

Taiwan Gay Cuties

This article is more about Taiwan’s Gay Pride March, however, when you check out the photo of Taiwan’s gay cuties you’ll see what I mean. I can’t share the photo here, but it is worth the trip over there with this link.

Gay Star News reported an overwhelming show of support for the Taiwanese LGBT community this weekend. An estimated 60,000 attendees took to Taipei’s streets to celebrate what is being called Asia’s biggest gay pride event.

And, the LGBT community there gained visible support from Google and Goldman Sachs employees. It’s being touted in other places as Asia’s biggest pride event to date.

Books Sold In A Year

I actually couldn’t tell you how many books I sell in a year, or even how many I’ve sold in my lifetime. I can tell you that all my books have earned out their advances, and I’ll be knocking wood and thanking the heavens while I tell you that. Because the fact is that it’s impossible to know how many books will sell for anyone. And the only reason I’m actually posting about this now is because I saw an author state on facebook that she sold 100,000 copies ( “100K”) in 2013, and 2013 isn’t even over yet. This is an unknown author, and a self-published author, and an author who writes in a small sub-genre. Could she have sold that many books? Of course. What are the odds of her actually selling that many books? Slim to zero.

The second conclusion is that a novel will probably sell fewer copies than you think. If a novel sells 10,000 copies in a year it is doing well. For a first time novelist, with little track record, a figure of 2000 copies per year is probably closer to the truth. Granted the figures in the post are based on Literary Fiction, a genre that is notoriously difficult to sell. Certain genres will be more popular and sell more books, but what is important for a writer is that they are realistic in their expectations.

You can read more here. If you do a simple search on this topic you will find more articles like this that say basically the same thing. I’ve been working in publishing for over twenty years and I can state from personal experience the articles are correct.

There are a lot of statements made out there on social media by aggressive authors we need to take with that proverbial grain of salt. And while it is possible that a self-pubbed author in a small sub-genre on the fringes of publishing can sell 100,000 copies in less than a year because anything is possible in publishing, it’s not all that probable. Facts don’t usually lie; people sometimes do.

Author of over 100 published LGBT romance novels and stories, including AN OFFICER AND HIS GENTLEMAN and best selling VIRGIN BILLIONAIRE SERIES. Hates beets.
New Hope, PA Palm Springs, CA
ryan-field.blogspot.com